102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



phosphoric acid which has been subject to loss in our farm- 

 yard and stable manures, because voided in the urinCo 

 Fourth, the practice of late so common, of buying concen- 

 trated feeds like bran, cotton-seed, linseed, oats, etc., for our 

 cows and horses, enriches their excrements greatly in phos- 

 phoric acid and nitrogen, but not in potash. In view of these 

 facts, can it be wondered that our crops generally show a 

 greater benefit from potash than from phosphoric acid appli- 

 cation ? 



It should not, of course, be understood that the latter is 

 unnecessary. It is usually required, but not in the propor- 

 tion in which it exists in special fertilizers. 



Advice to Those using Special Fertilizers. 



Many of you will doubtless continue to use special fertil- 

 izers. I have nothing to say against it. You do not 

 believe you can study out anything better, or you fear the 

 labor involved in the mixing of the materials. Upon such I 

 would urge an experiment. On a part of your field, in 

 addition to your special, use some material furnishing addi- 

 tional potash. For all the common crops except potatoes 

 and tobacco this may be the muriate in amounts of from one 

 hundred and twenty-five to two hundred pounds per acre ; for 

 potatoes, use high-grade sulphate at about the same rate. 



Here I will tell you an incident. The superintendent of 

 the State Farm at Monson came to me last spring in 

 Amherst, and said he would like to consult me as to raising 

 potatoes. He said he had bought a special potato fertilizer. 

 I said, " If you have bought that, of course you want to use 

 it. My advice to you is to use in connection with it about 

 one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five 

 pounds of high-grade sulphate of potash. Put it on alone, 

 scattering it widely along the drill, — or mix it beforehand 

 with your special fertilizer. If you are going to use one hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds of that, mix in some of this high-grade 

 sulphate with it, and put it on together." He said to me 

 afterwards, " I left out the potash on a part of the field, just 

 for a test, and, while I have not been very exact in measur- 

 ing, I am fully convinced that where I used potash the crop 

 was forty per cent better than where I did not use it ; " and 



